In today's blog post at ESPN (Insider req'd), Buster Olney names the winners and losers in yesterday's Cliff Lee deal. Beyond the obvious, he says the Red Sox and Rays win because Lee stays away from the team they're chasing in the AL East while the Athletics and Angels lose because he's going to the team they're chasing in the AL West. Olney also dubs the Phillies losers because yesterday's trade again showed that they didn't receive as much as they could have for Lee when they traded him last winter.
Here are the rest of Buster's rumors…
- People within the Mets' front office are working under the assumption that they will not be able to expand payroll. Earlier this week we heard that the team liked the idea of acquiring Ted Lilly and taking on the now $5.55MM left on his deal as a way to move fewer prospects.
- The Phillies would prefer to move Raul Ibanez and the $17MM left on his deal to make room for top prospect Domonic Brown, but I can't imagine anyone will bite. Impending free agent Jayson Werth might go instead.
- Kosuke Fukudome's stock is falling, but the Cubs are still keeping the eye on the market for his services.
- The Royals are telling teams that they are going to hang on to David DeJesus until the trade deadline before deciding whether or not to move the outfielder.
we need to pay some of that $17MM and get him out of here
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yeah, because all his hrs and doubles lately are killing them. ibanez and howard are the only ones hitting consistency. dude just had surgery, and he’s finally starting to hit. no one they replace him with would be any better.
all the doubles and HRs he’s been hitting lately? 1HR this month 3 doubles 2 were last night you cant just look at one game, and I’m sure Brown will be way better, at the plat and in the field
it really seemed like he had more. he’s certainly got a lot of 2-out hits lately that started something. at least he’s hitting over .300 for the month. that’s huge compared to what he was doing. i still like him on the team. i’d rather them get something for werth and use brown in rf.
Ibanez is starting to hit again. His 2nd half last year was very similar to his first half this year… and do you remember what he did in the first half last year?
Ibanez is notoriously streaky.
What if the Phillies picked up half of Ibanez’s salary and took back Lowell from the Red Sox. I think that could work. Once Polanco comes back, he could move to second and Lowell could play third.
Couple not so nice things with that idea. Lowell has almost no range at 3B anymore and even if he did, his hip is liable to break down after a few days straight in the field. Lowell is probably at this time a fill in at 1B/3B and pinch hitter unfortunately, but would be nice for him to get a chance on a team like Philly with more playing time.
Other thing don’t like is taking on 5M more salary in Ibanez, under contract next year for 11M with -0- place to play for Boston. Drew is as good a RF as they have had in years and Ellsbury in LF. Can’t see them taking on a struggling player like Ibanez’s salary, unless they pay the difference from what Lowell is making this year. Hermida will be back in less than 2 weeks and *hopefully* Ellsbury by the end of the month.
Could see them moving Lowell to Philly and eating most/all of his salary however, even getting little to nothing in return, just not as any kind of regular unfortunately. At this point, he is probably 1-3 games a week in the field and pinch hitter.
Lilly(Cubs pay his remaining salary), Fukodome and a low level prospect to the Mets for Castillo, Francouer, Nick Evans and two good(not great) prospects from the Mets
Would never happen, first the mets aren’t giving up francouer and then the cubs are adding a mess load of payroll wouldn’t that be counter productive if they are trying to dump payroll?…
They might switch out Francouer for Fukodome plus Cubs save 9 million dollars by moving KF(his 20 million remaining) and taking on Castillo’s and Francouers remaining salaries(about 11 million)
They might switch out Francouer for Fukodome plus Cubs save 9 million dollars by moving KF(his 20 million remaining) and taking on Castillo’s and Francouers remaining salaries(about 11 million)
The Mets wish they could find someone to take Francouer.
The Mets wish they could find someone to take Francouer.
I dont see how they would be able to move Ibanez but without a doubt that would be better than moving werth. Maybe swap him for another bad contract? either way they gonna have to pay up.
I also don’t see how the Phillies are “losers” in this deal. I mean, I kind of follow Olney’s logic, but it is extremely theoretical and doesn’t really apply to where the team is now. I would say they’re winners, since Lee will be far away from the Mets or anyone else in the NL East.
Also, look at what the Phillies gave the Indians for Lee compared to the Rangers. The talent level isn’t close. In comparison to the Mariners they appear to be losers, but lets see in 3-4 years
Yea the package the phillies got is disgraceful. Idk what RAJ was thinking
A little premature to call it disgraceful, cant evaluate prospects for at least a few years
I would mind seeing Ibanez go if it means brown comes up and the Phillies can add some pitching.
Ibanez for Zambrano straight up
pass
pass
wait if that happens will he flip on ryan howard if he screws up some how??
Ibanez for Zambrano straight up
Fukodome is one of the worst values in baseball. He is putting up ok numbers, but he has never OPSed over .800, which isn’t great for a guy who makes $14 million a year. If the Cubs expect to move any of their big contracts they are going to have to eat a considerable chunk of the salary.